Defending champ Sinner in full control as he destroys Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 to enter semis; meets Ben Shelton, who beat Lorenzo Sonego in four sets
Italy’s Jannik Sinner returns to Australia’s Alex De Minaur during their quarter-final encounter in Melbourne yesterday. Pics/AFP
Defending champion Jannik Sinner put any illness worries to bed by crushing home hope Alex de Minaur in a straight-sets rout to tee up an Australian Open semi-final against Ben Shelton. The Italian World No. 1 showed no signs of the health issues that hampered him in his last match to emphatically fly past the eighth seed 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 on Rod Laver Arena.
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He will meet stubborn American Shelton for a place in Sunday’s final against either 10-time champion Novak Djokovic or second seed Alexander Zverev. Shelton, seeded 21, battled past another Italian, the unseeded Lorenzo Sonego, 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) to make the Melbourne Park last four for the first time.
The writing was on the wall for De Minaur with Sinner winning all nine of their previous meetings. He was given a glimmer of hope after Sinner battled illness in his last-16 clash, where he admitted he was “not there health-wise” and had been “a bit dizzy at times” in hot weather.
Ben Shelton celebrates his win over Lorenzo Sonego yesterday
But the Italian showed no evidence of any problems on a much cooler quarter-final day. “Yesterday was a very easy day. I played just half an hour, 40 minutes with my coaches,” Sinner said when asked about how he was feeling. “Talking about general physical [condition], you know, I feel like, especially when you are young, you recover very fast,” he added.
In front of a patriotic home crowd, he broke for a 3-1 lead after a draining 24-shot baseline rally. The agile Sinner’s big ball-striking proved hard for the Australian to counter and De Minaur struggled to create chances, managing just four winners in the opening set. “Days like this and you break quite early in each set, it’s a little bit easier,” said Sinner.
Semi-finalist Shelton ‘shocked’ by ‘disrespectful’ Melbourne TV hosts
Australian Open semi-finalist Ben Shelton said on Wednesday he was “shocked” by on-court TV interviews at Melbourne Park, slamming them as “disrespectful.” A leading TV presenter apologised on air to Novak Djokovic for mocking the 24-time Grand Slam winner and Serbian fans. The 37-year-old great had said he would refuse to do on-court interviews until he got an apology.
“I don’t think that the guy who mocked Novak, I don’t think that was just a single event,” Shelton told reporters. “I’ve noticed it with different people, not just myself. I noticed it with Learner Tien in one of his matches. I think, when he beat Medvedev, his post-match interview, I thought it was kind of embarrassing and disrespectful. I’ve been a little bit shocked this week with how players have been treated by the broadcasters,” he added.
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